The Aviation Police Bureau has completed the training of 25 air marshals to serve on US-bound flights operated by Taiwanese carriers under a Taiwan-US anti-terrorism cooperation program, government sources said yesterday.
“All the air marshals have completed their training and can take up their duties at any time,” an Aviation Police Bureau official said.
The training of air marshals is part of a US-led global anti-terrorism cooperation project, the official said, adding that Taiwan has been extremely cooperative in implementing the program.
“The United States has been cooperating with countries around the world to counter terrorism since the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, and we have been very cooperative in taking steps to improve maritime and airborne traffic security,” the official said.
On the maritime security front, a new monitoring system was inaugurated at Kaohsiung Harbor in November, he said.
“With the United States providing funds and Taiwan providing manpower, all container shipping centers at the harbor have been outfitted with radioactive substance-detecting instruments to filter all US-bound containers for counter-terrorism purposes,” he said.
For aviation security, the official said, the Aviation Police Bureau was charged with training the 25 air marshals.
“All of them are elite members of our police force,” the official said.
In addition to receiving training in detecting explosives, hostage negotiations, shooting, arresting, combat in formation, handcuffing, unarmed combat, police baton work and taekwondo, they also had to pass family background checks, loyalty checks and emotional management tests.
Because Taiwan is not a high-risk area for terrorist attacks and has consistently imposed stringent security inspections at its airports, the official said, the US has not yet asked Taiwan to assign air marshals to Taiwanese carriers’ US-bound flights.
But even without a US request, the official said, Taiwan’s civil aviation authorities can dispatch air marshals to execute duties on either international or domestic flights based on their own intelligence and judgment.
Japan and China have deployed plainclothes air marshals on their commercial flights for several years, the official said.
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